Official report: Russia is a threat to Bulgaria

Russian propaganda, especially via Bulgarian political and economic personalities, and the media, puts the economic and energy security of the country to the test, and undermines its defence capacities, a report published on the website of the Bulgarian defence ministry says.

The 14-page report, Vision 2020, will be presented by the Bulgarian President Rossen Plevneliev and the caretaker Defence Minister Velizar Shalamanov at the NATO summit on 4-5 September in Cardiff, Wales, reports Dnevnik, the EurActiv partner media in Bulgaria.

According to the report, one of the main risks for Bulgaria is “the new hybrid war, which combines conventional methods with guerrilla, cybernetic and information war”.

"The strained relations between Moscow on the one side and Kyiv, EU, ​​USA and NATO on the other, put a huge economic and energy security ordeal on our country and further deteriorates our defense capabilities," the document says.

Indeed, Bulgaria has been under pressure from Moscow to build major energy projects such as the South Stream gas pipeline, the Belene nuclear plant, and the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline. Conversely, the US, and other Western partners, have discouraged Bulgaria from further increasing its energy and economic dependence on Russia. As a result, all these projects are now frozen.

In the context of the Ukraine crisis, several Bulgarian media outlets are openly taking side with Russia. It was reported that during the November 2013 Vilnius summit, Plevneliev told a pre-summit meeting of the European Peoples’ Party (EPP) political family that “90% of the media in Bulgaria work for Russian masters.”

Last April, Plevneliev said Russian reconnaissance and transport planes were frequently flying along his country’s Eastern aerial border. This, he said, caused Bulgaria’s MIG fighter jets to intercept such flights “two or three times a week”. Before the Crimea crisis, such interceptions were extremely rare.

Bulgarian fighter jets are Soviet-made, and can be maintained only by Russia. Plevneliev said he suspected Russia wanted to exhaust the MIGs' operational life by speeding up their maintenance.

According to Vision 2020, it is necessary for the country to buy new fighters jets, and in case the economy performs better - a new air defense system.

The document also says that civil society has become stronger in recent months, but that “the resistance of the social mechanisms and organisations is still insufficient in the conditions of risks of hybrid nature”.

At least one political organization, the nationalist and xenophobic party Ataka, openly promotes pro-Putin policies. But the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the second force in the country (see background), also often advocates positions close to Moscow’s, in disregard of the EU line.

A recent opinion poll has shown that in case they would be asked what to choose, EU membership for Bulgaria or membership in Russia’s Eurasian Union, 22% of respondents said they said would vote for Vladimir Putin’s geopolitical project. Conversely, 40% say they are for EU membership.

On 27 August the caretaker Prime Minister Georgi Bliznashki announced that the report “Vision 2020’ had created a “mini crisis” in the country and had consequently been withdrawn. The report has indeed disappeared in the meantime from the Ministry’s website. The announcement came after Ivailo Kalfin, a politician from the centre-left political force “Alternative for a Bulgarian Renaissance” (ABV) accused the Defence minister of unnecessarily poisoning the country’s relations with Moscow and asked for his resignation.

Background

Bulgaria’s socialist-led minority government resigned on 23 July and a caretaker government was appointed by the President Rossen Plevneliev on 6 August. Early elections will be held on 5 October.

If elections are held today, according to a recent poll the winner would be the party GERB (Citizens for a European development of Bulgaria) of former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov (EPP-affiliated), with 24.6%, followed by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) with 17.8% and the mainly ethnic Turkish Movement of Rights and Freedoms (DPS) with 7.9%. Four more forces are likely to pass the 4% threshold to be represented in Parliament: the Reformist Block (EPP-affiliated), the centre-left Alternative for Bulgarian Renaissance (ABV), the party “Bulgaria without censorship” of MEP Nikolay Barekov who recently obtained affiliation with the conservative ECR group, and the nationalist force “Patriotic Front”.

The nationalist Ataka is unlikely to be represented in the next parliament, according to polls.

The biggest single market for nuclear energy in Eastern Europe is Poland, says Mike Kirst, an official at Westinghouse, the US multinational providing fuel, services and equipment for the nuclear industry. Polish authorities have spoken of potentially building up to 11 nuclear reactors by 2030, Kirst told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

Politicians in Bulgaria tend to forget national interests. The end result is that there are no big energy-related projects on the Bulgarian horizon – either in the sphere of electricity or in the sphere of gas, Slavcho Neykov, energy policy expert, told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

Ahead of the 23-24 October EU summit, on Thursday (16 October), the Commission presented a first-ever analysis of the consequences of a disruption of Russian gas supplies, or even a complete halt of such imports to the Union, and neighbouring states. The result, which was not difficult to predict, is that some countries would be much more affected than others.

The European Commission said Thursday (21 August) that it was aware that a video reveals that room has been made at Bulgaria's Varna harbour for pipes to be used for the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline, in spite of the assurances by the country’s government that the project has been frozen.

Asked “If there is a referendum today, what would you choose: EU membership for Bulgaria or membership in Russia’s Eurasian Union?” 22% of respondents in Bulgaria said they said would vote for Vladimir Putin’s geopolitical project, according to a new poll. Conversely, 40% say they are for EU membership.

Massive fraud is reported after Moscow introduced counter-sanctions, prohibiting the importation of food from Western countries that undertook measures to punish Russia for the annexation of Crimea, and for destabilising eastern Ukraine. For example, shellfish are labelled as hailing from Belarus, even though the country is landlocked.

Russian hackers exploited a bug in Microsoft Windows and other software to spy on computers used by NATO, the European Union, Ukraine and companies in the energy and telecommunications sectors, according to cyber intelligence firm iSight Partners.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was the driving force behind a joint letter in support of the South Stream project to the European Commission by the leaders of the countries through which the gas pipeline would pass, EurActiv has learnt. But the effort appears wasted as Bulgaria has now ordered work on the initiative to stop.

Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy, hinted Monday (1 December) that the EU executive was aware of the surge of Russian propaganda against the background of the Ukrainian crisis, and that it had some ideas about how to deal with it.

Corruption is the greatest threat to Bulgaria, specifically, white collar crime.
Any country that attempts to have independent foreign policy not subservient to US/EU Geo-political ambitions automatically gets demonized and becomes an enemy.

Don't be so quick to judge. 22% is not a realistic representation of the truth. The situation is way too complicated for an outsider to have any opinion whatsoever simply because he or she would be severely misinformed. Most of the people are in the same situation, so do not fret. I will try to simplify it for you, but keep in mind that in general politicians' main goal is to be in power. It has been like that since we were liberated from Ottoman yoke in 1878.
Bulgarian citizens "in favour" of our country joining the former Customs Union expressed their opinion in response to last year's original massive protests against the minority government calling for its resignation. However, they were brought by the ruling parties to the capital on 40 buses with transport, lunch and 20 euros paid to do so. Their numbers were about 2400 people - mainly composed of elderly who have always voted for the Socialist Party, Roma citizens (though they prefer to be called jipsies) and Turks who are the firm electorate of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and the extremist party Ataka. So far, I have only heard the leader of Ataka (a disgusting little man) talking on radio, TV and newspaper interviews about how we should leave the EU and join the Eurasian Union. He talks about europeadophelia, continuously expresses racist views, attacks people physically and uses his political power abusively. This is why he is currently facing several trials.
Officially, Bulgarian population amounts approximately to 7,5 mln people. Do you still think that these 2400 (who obviously believe one free trip to the capital, one piece of pizza and 20 euro are enough to buy their votes) amount to 22% of the population in favour of Bulgaria joinin the Eurasion Union? Just don't be so quick to judge and don't put us all under the same denominator.

Depends on the outsider and I'm speaking from experience. Most visitors do their homework before embarking to a foreign country and even more so if an extended stay is expected. All countries have their own parculiar positives and negatives, Bulgaria is no exception.
From my perspective in the city of Blagoevgrad, it was thoroughly enjoyable, people were friendly, and the children always know the best swimming holes, fishing spots, where to shop, how much to pay, and are eager to help foreigners.
On the negative side, the less one has to do with government officials the better. EU always ignores their own official reports/studies until a crisis develops, then they talk it to death, and issue a new report.

My comment was directed to the first comment :P
Many of my foreign friends have told me that they liked Bulgaria when they visited. It has a beautiful nature and warm people in general, but the political situation is a mess to us, let alone to passersby.

kamenchanov
Any half-wit idiot should be able to look up the population mix and figure out there was no way possible 22 percent is an average number.
The only other drawback relative to Bulgaria, in my opinion, was the difficulty in learning the language. Fortunately, I was able to purchase a phrase translator tablet and pocket dictionary in Bulgarian/English before arriving. When I left I gave them to two youngsters struggling with learning the English language.